- Oct 22, 2023
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Am I right in thinking we need to notify our insurance of our recent lithium upgrade as it's a modification?
Notifying insurance of lithium install?
- Thread starter Jo-jo
- Start date
- Oct 22, 2023
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Did they use it as an excuse to hike the price?
With this sort of thing, how did they know you hadn't already got it.?
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On my 4th year insuring a vehicle with lithium and everytime I have mentioned it and they were not interested...all they said is i would need receipts for any upgrades in the event of making a claim.
Why risk it ?
If you bought that motorhome and it already had lithium in it would you specify that it had it if they didn't ask?
Only asking, not meaning anything else.
Technically, if its a modification from new then yes -assuming its not factory fitted lithium
I dont like the insurance industry way of doing business - no doubt they would cite the constant fraud they have to deal with as a reason - but its the customers responsibility to highlight changes
We haven't informed our insurance company...should we?
If we had the misfortune of a total loss due to Fire, I doubt there would be much evidence for the company loss adjuster to go on..from a Fire investigation point of view, I would most likely class it as unknown or electrical fault..
If we had the misfortune of a total loss due to Fire, I doubt there would be much evidence for the company loss adjuster to go on..from a Fire investigation point of view, I would most likely class it as unknown or electrical fault..
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I can see a little blue bit with "ctron" in the charred remains.
- Dec 31, 2010
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Our van had lithium as standard so no mods to report 
RowleyBirkinQC
LIFE MEMBER
I informed Comfort, they seemed totally disinterested.
If the insurance company didnt make it an issue and sourced a replacement like for like van, without lithium, you would then have to pay the extra to reinstall lithium.
So you'd be out of pocket although you might get a little bonus from lithium prices falling. But you're risking them disputing the claim and technically, it's a fraudulent claim. I dont see the point of trying to make a few bob out of insurance companies. It's like nicking pencils from work ..... the downside risk is large, the upside negligible.
If you want to make money by nefarious means, go large. Do it properly. At least then if you get away with it, it's worth it.
This recently from Telegraph - its behind paywall so can't link to article ....
I was involved in a car accident in February last year in which our top-of-the-range Mercedes GLC was completely written off. There was sitting water on the dual carriageway and my car lost grip on the road. It veered right into the outside lane and a Volkswagen Golf went into me and then ran off the road.
I phoned the police straight away and allowed the family of four in the Golf to shelter from the rain in my vehicle. I was unhurt, but I later learnt that the other party had all sustained injuries.
They put in four personal injury claims for unknown amounts against our insurance, which was in my wife’s name, with me as a named driver.
Our motor insurance company, Flow, appeared ready to pay the claim until it discovered that we had a tow bar fitted on our car. The accident had absolutely nothing to do with the tow bar, and in fact the tow bar was not even on the car when the crash occurred.
But Flow said it declined the claim on the basis that it would not have insured the car in the first place had we declared that the tow bar was fitted.
Flow seemed to be accusing us of misleading it that we did not have a tow bar, when in fact we did. I explained at length that this was not the case.
When I took out the insurance, I did not think I needed to declare the tow bar when I was asked by MoneySuperMarket, where I bought the policy, whether the car had any “modifications”.
This was because when I informed our previous insurer about the tow bar, it had told me it was irrelevant information and didn’t bother recording it. The examples given by MoneySuperMarket as “modifications” were things like alloy wheels. To my mind the tow bar was simply an “add on”, similar to a roof rack.
I was involved in a car accident in February last year in which our top-of-the-range Mercedes GLC was completely written off. There was sitting water on the dual carriageway and my car lost grip on the road. It veered right into the outside lane and a Volkswagen Golf went into me and then ran off the road.
I phoned the police straight away and allowed the family of four in the Golf to shelter from the rain in my vehicle. I was unhurt, but I later learnt that the other party had all sustained injuries.
They put in four personal injury claims for unknown amounts against our insurance, which was in my wife’s name, with me as a named driver.
Our motor insurance company, Flow, appeared ready to pay the claim until it discovered that we had a tow bar fitted on our car. The accident had absolutely nothing to do with the tow bar, and in fact the tow bar was not even on the car when the crash occurred.
But Flow said it declined the claim on the basis that it would not have insured the car in the first place had we declared that the tow bar was fitted.
Flow seemed to be accusing us of misleading it that we did not have a tow bar, when in fact we did. I explained at length that this was not the case.
When I took out the insurance, I did not think I needed to declare the tow bar when I was asked by MoneySuperMarket, where I bought the policy, whether the car had any “modifications”.
This was because when I informed our previous insurer about the tow bar, it had told me it was irrelevant information and didn’t bother recording it. The examples given by MoneySuperMarket as “modifications” were things like alloy wheels. To my mind the tow bar was simply an “add on”, similar to a roof rack.
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Or this one ....
He says: 'We have experience in converting this type of loft and attic space and knew that while it had the potential to one day be converted into a playroom for the children perhaps, we would first have to make the rooms habitable and install safety features such as fire alarms.'
www.thisismoney.co.uk
Family whose house burnt down reveals how their insurer REFUSED to pay £460,000 because 'the property had seven bedrooms not five'
- The Weldins were on holiday when they learned of the blaze at their Devon home
- They had moved in just two months earlier and had not finished unpacking
- Insurer Ageas said they had declared five bedrooms when there were seven
- Because the firm did not offer cover for homes of that size, the policy was void
He says: 'We have experience in converting this type of loft and attic space and knew that while it had the potential to one day be converted into a playroom for the children perhaps, we would first have to make the rooms habitable and install safety features such as fire alarms.'
Our house burnt down and the insurer refused to pay
Paul and Sophie Weldin were on holiday with their four young children in April when they learned of the blaze at their East Devon home. They had moved in just two months earlier.
- Apr 27, 2008
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I always insure the house as having four bedrooms even though only two are actually used as bedrooms.
pappajohn
LIFE MEMBER
It's not a modification ....it's an upgrade.
If you replace factory tyres with some other, better make would you inform insurers?
If you replace factory tyres with some other, better make would you inform insurers?
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As always happens, my post has been taken the wrong way, I wasn't suggesting anything underhand or illegal, just asking the question of how did they know in the first place what sort of battery it had.
I don't recall ever being asked what type of battery I had on the van, if it had been asked and you said lead then obviously if you then put lithium on that's a change but if you have never been asked how do they know what it's got?
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I suspect the Fire brigade and insurance assessors know the signs - but I dont know for sure. They could also contact the manufacturer and ask for the standard spec. It's highly unlikely they would, and the risk is small.
Neither of the above examples set out to deceive or defraud - I'm not suggesting you are promoting that. I'm just highlighting how something that seems totally innocuous, can catch people out
Not a different brand no, but if I switched to winter tyres...probably yes.
- Apr 30, 2018
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I’m sure I’ve read on this very forum sometime in the past about an issue of a flying solar panel resulting in damage to a 3rd party vehicle and the insurance company refusing the claim due to the panel having been installed by a non professional without a vat invoice, i.e DIY. If they (insurers) will try to wriggle out of a 3rd party damage claim probably in the low £1000’s can you imagine their response to a total loss running into many many £1000’s.
In the grand scheme of things what’s a few £’s increase in premiums compared to the hassle and possible legal fees in trying to defend the indefensible.
After all the cost of a professional Lithium installation is going to far outweigh the potential small increased insurance premiums even when spread across the lifetime of the installation.
It’s like so many things in life that we should do, but for one reason or another we take the chance.
In the grand scheme of things what’s a few £’s increase in premiums compared to the hassle and possible legal fees in trying to defend the indefensible.
After all the cost of a professional Lithium installation is going to far outweigh the potential small increased insurance premiums even when spread across the lifetime of the installation.
It’s like so many things in life that we should do, but for one reason or another we take the chance.
Especially as some motorhomes already come with lithium. Also if buying second hand how do you know what the original spec was? I don’t think it is that easy to find out.
There has been so much fuss over what constitutes modifications, recently, that when our insurance comes up for renewal I am going to talk to the insurer, Comfort, to see what they want to know and what they don’t. When first insuring with them I don’t remember any conversation about modifications and surely a s van specialist insurer they would be aware of things like solar panels and awnings etc.
- Apr 30, 2018
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Adding to my previous post #23 I have a couple of extras fitted to our MH (rear air and levellers) mention them at every renewal with AIB and their response is; as both items have been fitted professionally, they will be recorded but either do not affect the premium. So I suspect this would be the same in most cases with lithium installation.
But always wise to mention.
But always wise to mention.
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chaser ‘s point is that if the vehicle was modified by a previous owner, how would/could you know whether it had been modified or not. Consequently, how could you declare it?
Ian
In my case as you know ours is a self converted ambulance insured with nfu, they insured it from the start, never asked what was going in it or anything else as far as I can remember, I just told them when it was finished, and the insurance just carried on as motorhome instead of van and that's how it has been for 8 years.
They have no idea what batteries I put in it. Or anything else for that matter.
They have no idea what batteries I put in it. Or anything else for that matter.
It seems to me that if such minor changes constitute an insurance notifiable modification, then a full list ought to be supplied by the insurance co/broker, so that the customer can comply. When I purchased mine from comfort, I went out of my way to list all modifications including a tow bar to the broker, even thou they seemed pretty disinterested. I have no interest in towing, just somewhere to plonk a bike rack. Ditto, the installation of an immobiliser, think they thought I was angling for a discount...
If they had replaced the leisure battery with a similar spec, but different manufacturer, would this need to be notified?
Do peeps that make their own leisure batteries notify?
Going to the absurd, do you need to notify an oil and filter change? screen wash? bulbs? new air in the tyres?
If they had replaced the leisure battery with a similar spec, but different manufacturer, would this need to be notified?
Do peeps that make their own leisure batteries notify?
Going to the absurd, do you need to notify an oil and filter change? screen wash? bulbs? new air in the tyres?
- Aug 18, 2014
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If they were notified of the installation & did not ask at the time it is not the clients fault as to who installed it.
Tell me what a "professional " is? mostly they are knifehands you wouldn't let out with a hoop & stick.
How do you know what is or is not standard?
This^^^^^^^^
That is the problem in the UK most insurers now are utter scamming scum.
Here we have the whole lot added to the ficha tecnica when converting or adding, but the loophole at the outset is for motorhomes as to what was fitted at the factory.
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